News
RECESSION-ERA LABOR SHORTAGE
October 4, 2011
| Our headline may sound like an oxymoron, but BRAC and the ensuing opportunity to make Maryland an epicenter for cyber security have created tremendous demand for real estate—whether or not there are talented souls to fill the cubicles. |
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| At our Bisnow BRAC, Cyber, & Fort Meade Summit late last week, MD Secretary of Business and Economic Development Christian Johansson laid out four priorities: grow the industry for innovativesecurity, train people to staff the industry, invest as a state in national cyber security, and sustain the growth through marketing and a business-friendly state. In other words, once MD supplies the brains to run the cyber security industry (250,000 state residents already work in tech), more jobs will appear—and with that comes demand for more real estate. |
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| We asked a random sample of the 350 attendees: "What has your company been up to?" The most common answer: "I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you." We guess that's what happens when you host an event for people whose clientele are the government and defense contractors. |
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| TASC's Rosemary Budd, who's also prez of the Fort Meade Alliance (consider it an EDA for the base), says the fort isn't immune from government budget cuts. JHU Applied Physics Lab director emeritus Rich Roca (center) says the government believes it overspends on IT compared to the private sector. Spending on that will shrink, and the savings it gets from those trimmings willredeploy elsewhere, including to cyber security, he says. Anne Arundel Economic Development chief Bob Hannon offered proof that the government is prioritizing cyber spending: the elimination of the base's golf course, which had been a revenue generator, to make room for Cyber Command. And don't forget the Defense Information Systems Agency's gleaming new 1.1M SF HQ. |
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| What does "cyber" mean to Bob (left)? Lots more jobs at Fort Meade. To Rosemary, it's a concentration of like minds, considering the private sector can benefit from the same security technology the government is creating. She also says more base staff are being located outside the gates, creating the need for secure buildings in developments like COPT's National Business Park and Halle Cos' Odenton Town Center. And Public/private partnerships are getting a move on infrastructure to get those developments started. |
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| The team's back together. Our moderator, Cushman & Wakefield federal practice group leader Pete Marcin discusses the finer points of coffee cup insulation with Kevin Wilson of Capitol CREAG, where Pete got his start. There was also some discussion about the lyrics to the unofficial team song for UVA football, where Pete played, but neither would expound on that point, on or off the record. Look formore on the event later this week! |
